Witch Mountain: The Flight Home
by Dame Grise
Summary: Uncle Bené worries about his nephew on the flight home from Los Angeles after the events of "Return from Witch Mountain."


Disclaimer: Tia, Tony and Bené belong to Alexander Key's estate, having been created by Mr. Key. The mind-control plot belongs to Walt Disney. 

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On the long journey from Los Angeles on the West Coast to the foggy Appalachian slopes of Witch Mountain in the east, Bené worried about his niece and nephew. They had met the Life Ship in the clothes he'd dropped them off in, and except for Tia's purse, they'd lost every piece of their luggage. Both teens seemed determined to minimize the situation in front of their human friends. Tony had even cracked a joke, straining to grin through obvious distress, so Bené had played benevolent and clueless uncle and didn't press them for details, even when they gained the privacy of the Ship's flight deck. However, now that he had a moment to think, he wondered what had happened to them in the three days they had visited the city. He took one last survey of the instruments, checking especially the altitude, put the Ship on autopilot, and decided to drag the story out of them.

Tia excitedly explained in her ultrasonic whisper some adventure she'd had in the city while Tony listened with his eyes closed, a slight crooked smile on his lips. "And then all the Earthquakes had to hide behind these garbage--" She broke off as Bené sat on the lounger opposite them. 

Both teens looked at him. The startling blue-black of their eyes was the rule among their people, but the suspicion he saw in them was not. Inwardly, he sighed, knowing how hard it had been to encourage both children to trust adults after the difficulties of their childhood, orphaned and alone with their bizarre talents. They still sometimes judged their own people, himself included, by the standards they had learned from humans. Their amazed delight at this survival and his dubious position as their only living relative gained him some authority, but not enough to correct years of fearful habit.

On the whole, Tia tended to be more forgiving and trusted more easily while Tony still struggled with rampant distrust. He should have been courting by now, instead of still hovering around his sister like an overprotective Saint Bernard. Their population still wasn't stable. Most young men married by eighteen and were fathers by twenty, but Tony had seemed unconcerned about the approach of his majority. The contrast between their hardened, worldy attitudes about the outside world and their persistent juvenile convictions had confounded wiser heads than his.

At the moment, Bené thought it obvious by their united reaction to him that they were actively concealing some unpleasant occurrence from their holiday. They'd been conditioned by privation and fear to stand together against any and all authority. He felt confident in guessing that Tony had borne the brunt of the unknown incident. The boy usually talked much more than his younger sister, and his relative silence while Tia chattered worried Bené as much as the exhausted shadows around the boy's eyes.

"Relax, kids," he said out loud with the special effort it took to force his vocal chords to produce sound of a pitch low enough to be heard by human ears. He didn't think he would do Tia any favors by encouraging her to avoid using her human voice.

"How long until we're home?" Tia asked, switching to her human audible voice without any apparent difficulty. She flipped her long, almost white, fair hair over her shoulder, and rested her tiny hands in her lap. Tony gathered himself up from his semi-recline beside her, tucked his long legs beneath him, and tried to appear interested in the answer.

"A few hours yet," Bené replied. He smiled at both of them. "Tell me about your holiday."

Tony frowned and looked away. He ran one hand through his fair hair, finally rubbing behind one of his ears. "It was boring," he said softly. 

Bené saw the lie and frowned. Lying successfully to one of their people was nearly impossible, and Tony knew that as well as he did. Their hearing was too acute to miss the indications of falsehood. So Bené could only surmise that the obvious lie was a request to leave the subject alone. However, Bené would rather have Tony request him to drop the subject explicitly than lie about it.

"You should know better, Tony," he admonished the boy. His censoring tone prompted an immediate guilty flush in Tony's face. "And Tia, I'm disappointed that you would support his lie."

"But Uncle," she said, her voice rising into the barely audibly range, then fell silent again. Her anguished gaze was glued to her brother's embarrassed face.

"Please, Uncle," Tony managed a cracked whisper. "I -- we're not ready to talk about it yet."

Bené frowned and invoked the Rite of Protection. "Has anyone put the Community in danger?" he asked in his 'silent' voice.

"No sir, " they answered in unison, their ultrasonic voices forming a comforting harmony. "No danger comes from the world outside. Our secrecy is inviolate." Even as newcomers to the Community, they knew the correct form for the Rite that reminded all the people of Witch Mountain to protect themselves from human society. It was taught to toddlers before their first nursery rhyme.

"Was any human told of the existence of Witch Mountain?"

"No sir," Tia answered immediately, and nudged Tony's thigh.

Tony appeared to be searching his memory. Bené wondered why the boy found it so difficult to remember his own actions across only three days. True, Tia's memory had always been naturally better, but Tony had quickly learned all the techniques his people had for total recall. He could tell you exactly what he had for breakfast a year and half ago. Tia, sensing Tony's difficulty, reached out to grasp his hand. Finally, he said, "Yes, but I don't think it meant anything to them."

"Who did you tell?" Bené broke from the Rite reluctantly. Finishing it would have comforted all three of them, but Tony's indescretion had made it impossible to continue.

"Please, Uncle Bené," Tia interceded again. "He couldn't help it."

"I can't endanger the everyone--"

"There is no danger," Tia insisted, her voice piercing.

"Is there?" Bené asked Tony.

"I don't think so," Tony said slowly. "I don't think they took what I said seriously, and... I doubt anyone would believe them now." He bit his lip, and glared at Bené through his eyelashes, managing to look simultaneously sullen and frightened.

Bené nodded, confident in Tony's reluctant assessment. These teens had a unique perspective on human nature. "Was anyone hurt?"

Again Tia looked at Tony, obviously anxious that he take the lead on that question. Tony shook his head. "No one. Not as far as I know."

"No one except Tony," Tia said. She then sat back, relieved to have said it, while Tony flinched away from her in hurt betrayal. Bené thought it prudent to take advantage of their division. With Tia supporting him, Tony could be impossibly stubborn. Without her, he was vulnerable.

"What happened to you, Toní?" Bené asked urgently.

"I'm fine now," the boy said stubbornly in his human audible voice.

"I did not ask how you were now," Bené said patiently.

"I was not physically hurt," Tony said, taking the hint to switch back to his native voice. His discomfort with the subject was obvious but his respect for Bené held him in place.

"Were you hurt in some other way?"

"Yes," Tony answered reluctantly. "I don't know how to describe it, and I don't want to talk about it."

Tia spoke up again. "These people used a machine on him, an electronic mind control device. They wanted to force him to do terrible things." Bené could not conceal his surprise at this further evidence of Tia's assertiveness. Tony did not speak.

"And were they successful?" Bené asked Tia.

"Yes," she said, nodding.

"Yes. And no," Tony said, contradicting Tia.

"Explain," Bené ordered.

"They controlled my body and enough of my... mind, no... my brain... to use me and my abilities, but I was still there. The me that still felt like me could see everything that happened, but not do anything about it. And I still don't want to talk about it." He shook his head, blinked away a sudden wash of tears, and clamped his mouth shut stubbornly.

"You understand that I am concerned?"

"I understand, but I am fine now. You have no reason to worry."

Bené could not persuade Tony to say another word on the subject. Tia's detailed narrative of how it looked to her was missing some key points, Bené thought, but he could not get the details voluntarily from Tony. He would have to recommend that Tony talk to someone when they got home. Until then, he would let the boy alone. At this point, badgering him would do no one any good. Shortly after Bené returned to the flight controls, Tony fell asleep and slept for the rest of the journey. 


End file.
